While discussing the possibility of a vaccine during an industry roundtable at the White House, Trump veered off course and seemed to claim to reporters that COVID-19 will be a nonissue for Americans in the near future - before the approval of a vaccine and even if it reappears in the fall.
"But I think what happens is: it's gonna go away. This is gonna go away. And whether it comes back in a modified form in the fall, we'll be able to handle it. We'll be able to put out spurts. And we're very prepared to handle it,” he said Wednesday afternoon during the question segment of the event.
Trump, who has bragged to reporters about his “very, very large brain,” displayed his ability to recall, rather than research, when CBS News reporter Ben Tracy asked about why he believes the novel coronavirus “will just be gone.”
"It's gonna go, it's gonna leave, it's gonna be gone, it's gonna be eradicated,” he said, blatantly avoiding the question.
.@benstracy asks Pres. Trump how he expects coronavirus to be "gone" without a vaccine
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 29, 2020
Trump: "It's gonna go, it's gonna leave, it's gonna be gone, it's gonna be eradicated. It might take longer, it might be in smaller sections. It won't be what we had." https://t.co/9T8aUPjUrs pic.twitter.com/mc1TqQCPMH
Trump, who has absolutely no known background in the medical field and just last week questioned if researchers could look into intravenously administering disinfectants to treat COVID-19 in human patients, did not stop at his non-answer. He went on to give an explanation of what doctors have learned concerning viral flare-ups, or “burning embers,” as he termed them.
“If you have a flare-up in a certain area — I call them burning embers — boom, we put it out. We know how to put it out now,” he claimed.
While the novel coronavirus is expected to be more manageable and less fatal as global research yields results on viable treatments and a vaccine, the US president’s claims - especially about the virus’ eradication - appear to be based on his own hopes and wishes in the current moment.
For example, after meeting with GOP lawmakers, Trump claimed on March 10 that the government is “prepared” and “doing a great job with” COVID-19. “And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away,” he said. At the time, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had yet to confirm even 50 deaths from the novel coronavirus in the entire country.
As of Wednesday, the country has logged more than 1,037,970 COVID-19 cases and suffered at least 60,853 deaths from the novel coronavirus, according to the Johns Hopkins University dashboard. Total tests for the virus have surpassed 6 million, and 120,444 cases have resulted in recovery.
Nevertheless, Trump’s wishful “it will go away” mantra persisted, appearing to be more of a message to himself, rather than the American people.
